The New Regime
by DD Agent
Summary: New Chief, New Rules.   Sharon/Will, spoilers for 6.10, M rated for a reason.


**The New Regime by DD Agent**

_I do not own The Closer or any of its characters, or its settings_

She wasn't in the Major Crimes conference room when they all found out who was the new Chief. She, instead, was down in the Internal Affairs offices watching the whole thing on the monitors with her colleagues and Chief Stephen Mitchell, who had brought out a bottle of Jack Daniels for them all to share. Other departments were feeling the pinch, but none more so than Internal Affairs, who had not been kind to the new Chief of the LAPD, Tommy Delk.

"Well, that's that sorted. Who wants to go down to a proper bar and get absolutely wasted?" suggested Eddie Pinker, head of the Special Operations division within Internal Affairs.

Sharon looked at the tumbler of whisky in her hand and frowned. She wondered what Will Pope was doing now, sitting in his brand new office that he hadn't had a proper chance to break in yet. She knew she shouldn't be thinking about him, but she found more often than not that she couldn't stop. Sharon sighed, pushing her drink away from her. She could join her boys in sitting and drowning in alcohol, eating Buffalo wings and onion rings and ending up at a strip club at three o'clock in the morning. But when she woke up hung over the next morning she would still be thinking about him.

"I've got some paperwork to fill in, want to have everything wrapped up before Delk fires me, I'll see you guys later."

The boys tried to persuade her to say, yelling things at her but she didn't listen, she downed the shot that Mitchell had given her and headed out of the room and down the corridor. Inside the Internal Affairs conference room, Stephen silenced the protests.

"Quiet boys, shut up. She's got unfinished business to deal with."

X

Sharon moved through the corridors, seeing a mix of jubilation and distress at who the new Chief was. She felt it too; she had loved the old Chief, he having worked with her father. However, she had written up some of Delk's team in FID a couple of times, and he was a tough bastard. She didn't hold up much hope that FID would remain intact. Its why she had pushed for Chief Johnson to be Chief – she was good at solving crimes and catching killers but when it came down to politics she was no good at all. In her heart, Sharon had hoped that putting her in charge would mean that FID would remain and she would keep her job, as she was sure they all had done.

Now, though, there was a pit of uncertainty growing in her stomach and she did feel like going out and getting drunk and coming in tomorrow with a nasty hangover. But instead she wanted to see Will Pope, and see how he was dealing with the situation. They might not have been together anymore, but they were still friends.

She knocked on his office door, and his secretary let her in. She smiled at the woman as she entered, and saw Will with his jacket off, a tumbler of alcohol by his elbow and his computer booted up. He looked up at her as she came in and smiled weakly, gesturing to the computer screen.

"I'm just updating my resume, adding a few things here and there. I thought I'd start looking before I got fired, just so I know what's going on, make sure I have a job."

Sharon sat down at the desk, and he pulled the laptop over so she could have a look. She smiled at his experience, his personal description. She could feel his body so close to hers that she blushed - she remembered what those hands could do to her, how it felt to be lying next to him in bed. She coughed and read onto the next page. "You really are good with the whole political language, aren't you?"

"I have lots of experience, watching my father."

She looked up at him with bright eyes, when they had been together they had rarely discussed family, only his children. It was something they had both been comfortable with, so she was surprised by his personal admission. "Your father was a politician?"

Will sighed and poured another drink. He got another tumbler out of his cupboards and passed her a glass. She took it gratefully. "My father was the governor of Michigan for several years."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

Sharon took a mouthful and enjoyed the burning sensation as it ran down her windpipe. She turned to him. "Were you hoping to get Chief so you could prove something to your Dad?"

Will chuckled and shook his head. He took a drink. "No, I wasn't. I haven't spoken to my father in years, I made my choice. As much as I would have loved to show him how successful I could be, I'd still be a cop. No, being Chief was something I wanted for me."

"Maybe you could try again in five years? If Delk gives it up of course, he's only allowed in for two terms."

He didn't seem greatly impressed with her suggestion. "Ten years? I can't waste another decade hoping I'll be Chief, I've only got about ten, fifteen years left in this job - maybe longer depending if my ex wife and her pension grabbing hands die before me. I think it's time to move on, I've been here twelve years - there's nothing here for me, anyway, not since me and Estelle divorced."

"What about me?" Sharon asked, immediately regretting the words as soon as they had come out of her mouth. Their relationship was an odd one - they had dated briefly after the Ally Moore situation, and it had been really good. Pleasant dinners, long walks, amazing sex. But soon enough the reality of hiding their relationship overtook what they had and they broke up. It led to several weeks of not talking until their friendship had returned, albeit not as good as what they had had before. There was still the lingering feelings, on both sides, but they were better separate if they had to keep their relationship to themselves.

"You could come with me." Will stood up and pulled Sharon up with him. He clasped her face between two hands. "We could go together. New York, Chicago - any force would be happy to have us."

She took his hands and moved them down. Sharon didn't remove her grip though, they were still holding hands. "I can't leave my team, and…it would be odd, us leaving together and us not _being _together."

"That's the best bit of starting somewhere new, we could be together." He stroked the backs of her hands. "I regret more than anything us ending, Sharon. I look at you in briefings and wonder how these last few months would have been; how my actions in this whole Chief race would have changed if you had been by my side. I'm not going to be Chief, and soon enough someone will be sitting behind my desk and there could not be a FID anymore. We could do _this _if we wanted to. I really want to."

Sharon loosened her grip and leant against his desk. "I miss you, Will, you know I do. But what if it wasn't us keeping things secret that screwed everything up, what if it was just us? I don't want to move to a new city and be left alone."

He stuck his hands in his pockets, nodding. "You're right."

She reached over and squeezed his hand and moved to leave. It had been a mistake coming here, but she was unable to resist Will Pope. She reached for the door handle when he ran over to her side, pushing himself in front of the door. He had let her walk away once, after they had decided that their relationship wasn't healthy. But he had thought about her every day since, had missed her smile, missed her warmth in his bed, missed how she made him feel. He wasn't going to see her walk away a second time.

"How about we do it here? Announce to the world, announce to everyone in the LAPD that we love each other, that we're dating, and that I can't live without you. Because I've tried, and it sucks. If we get fired, so be it. If it doesn't work out, then one of us is still likely to get fired and it'll be okay. We have a chance now to have what we want. And what I want, more than being Chief of the LAPD, is you."

She bumped her lips against his, pressing down gently. She took a step back, but Will grabbed for her hand and took it within his own, kissing the knuckles. "We can take a chance. I love you."

Sharon didn't know what to say. She walked back over to the desk and sat on the edge, swinging her legs. She crossed over her arms and grinned. "If we do this, we tell the Chief together. And I get to tell Scarlett O'Hara that we're dating."

"Done," Will grinned, moving over to kiss her properly. He had never forgotten how she had tasted, this tang of bitter coffee and the sugar she put in it. How his fingers curved around her hip, and how she liked to put her legs around him. Her fingers locked around the back of his neck, and his hand buried inside her mane of hair, threading through the curls.

They leaned back, and Sharon caught herself on the glasses they had been drinking from. One dropped to the floor and shattered. They looked down at the broken glass, and Sharon reached for his tie, stroking the fabric. "Damn, there is so much stuff on here. Tell me, have you christened your new desk yet?"

"No. That's something I've never got around to doing - I've been meaning to do it for a while, but the person I wanted to help me was always too busy saving the dignity of the LAPD," Will smiled, seeing where she was going. "Now seems a good a time as any though."

Together they pushed the stuff that was on his desk to the floor, and Will hoisted Sharon onto the cold wood, climbing over her. He smiled and traced where her hair had fanned out on his desk. She closed her eyes and he leaned down to kiss her, the barest whisper on her lips. The kiss grew hotter, tongues delving into mouths until they could bear it no longer and they started to remove clothes.

Will's jacket joined the mess on the floor, as did hers. Buttons were ripped off of her blouse as his fingers met hot skin, tracing the lacy cups of her bra. Will's trousers were unbuckled and unzipped as Sharon palmed his erection, gripping him tight and moving up and down. They hadn't had sex in a few months, but the pattern and touches were familiar, erotic, like returning home. She was already dripping wet when Will's fingers moved under the hem of her matching underwear and began to stroke her.

Slowly, Will eased his cock inside her, measuring out his paces. His fingers gripped her hips, raising her up to meet each thrust of his. His lips attached themselves to her neck, groaning against her skin. She came first, the sensation of being with Will again too overwhelming. He followed her soon after, panting as sweat glistened over their skin.

They stayed on the desk for a while, giggling and talking about their lives. Eventually they got dressed and, smiling happily, Sharon and Will embraced at the door. "Dinner, later?"

Sharon nodded. "Sounds good to me. I love you, Will; and I am for one glad that you're not Chief. Would be such a conflict of interest, and it's been horrible not being with you."

He kissed her on the cheek and waved her away as she walked out. Her lips were swollen, her hair was in tangles and there was a growing bruise on her neck. She was getting out of the offices of Will Pope when she met Brenda Leigh Johnson going into see Will. She looked at the Captain strangely.

"Do you know if Chief Pope's available?" The southern Chief asked.

Sharon nodded. "Yes, he should be. He's just putting everything back on his desk."

Brenda looked confused as Sharon walked back to her offices with a spring in her step. Whatever happened concerning FID, at least she would have Will by her side. The day hadn't turned out so badly after all.


End file.
